Category: pattern

Last fall, I found some absolutely lovely yarn from a local dyer. Knitterly Things (Julia) usually dyes self-striping sock yarn, but she also makes semi-solids. And she sometimes has some with sparkle. She had a trunk show at my LYS (local yarn store), and hanging on the rack was a gorgeous non-traditional Christmas colorway. Lo and behold, there was also a tonal with sparkle that matched the red in the striping colorway.

Both skeins of yarn jumped into my basket. I just knew that they had to be used together in something. And I knew it should be a shawl. Striping yarns are not used nearly as often in shawls as in socks, in part because the stripes will change widths as the shawl shaping develops.

With some thought, I realized that one way to mitigate the effect of the shaping on the stripes was to use the striping yarn for only half of the row. I also knew that I wanted something that wouldnt require knitters to be constantly referencing charts or written stitch patterns. It had to be easy to work and keep track of while in a social setting, but not just mindless miles of plain stockinette or garter stitch.

Originally, my plan was to make the pattern available for Local Yarn Store Day, which is sponsored by TNNA (The National Needlearts Association). LYS Day encourages fibercrafters to frequent local independent businesses instead of national chains, online-only retailers and big box stores. My pattern, while written originally for Knitterly Things yarn, will work with so many of the hand-dyed yarns that are a staple of the LYS. I would encourage knitters to shop their LYS, find something they loved, and make something beautiful from it.

I swatched. I drafted instructions. I computed yarn use for two sizes. Because while I love a huge shawl, not everyone wants something that will envelop them completely. I worked up references for stitch counts to appeal to the obsessive counters out there. I found someone to test knit/verify the pattern. I finished my prototype and started one of the other size. Everything was going swimmingly.

And then everything was locked down.

One by one, states started signing Shelter in Place orders, closing non-essential businesses. Yarncrafting events of all kinds were cancelled, from social events at individual stores, to regional fiber festivals, to weekend conventions. Dyers who had exhibit space booked and merchandise dyed and ready to display (and more importantly, sell) suddenly had no place to vend their wares. LYS Day 2020 was rescheduled from April to September.

Large

Small

Small

Large and small samples

My shawl is still a celebration of the artists and businesspeople who are the lifeblood of the yarn world: independent dyers and LYS owners. Things are hard for them right now. Many have implemented online sales, some for the first time. They are finding creative ways to get yarn into the hands of knitters, crocheters and weavers. If your LYS has done that, or if you are lucky enough that they still have doors open to customers as usual, I strongly encourage you to buy yarn that speaks to you and says it wants to be this shawl. Otherwise, shop your yarn stash – I know you have one. But then when things return to normal, replace those skeins by buying from your LYS.

I’ll link to a few dyers who make lovely things that I know work in this pattern. All three of them were scheduled to exhibit at events that were cancelled, so they have yarn available and ready to ship.

Finally I can share with you my latest pattern for Sugar Bush Yarns. It’s for a brand new yarn, Blaze. Which is why I haven’t been able to talk about it. Confidentiality and all that, you know.

Rolling River is a shawl/ruana that’s worked modularly: several pieces made the same way and joined. When laid out, it’s a big “U” shape. But don’t worry, it’s flexible enough that it can be worn like a rectangular/crescent shawl. Or you can play around with the buttons on it to make it behave in totally different ways. (That’s the next post… stay tuned.)

Today, our focus is going to be on matching the colors. Blaze is a striping yarn, which means that you get all sorts of colors in your project without needing to do any work other than to keep knitting (or crocheting, or weaving…). But I know there are knitters out there who are a little compulsive and will want things to line up. Here’s what to do.

Pull out your copy of the pattern and you’ll see that the instructions say to knit 2 central triangles, 2 left triangles and 2 right triangles. Those are then joined to make 2 long ruana sides, which are themselves joined with the back panel.

The easy part: match the two central triangles to each other. In a nutshell, you’ll knit one, then start the other one at the same point of the color striping repeat.

Then it gets a little weird.

You’ll want to work the Left and Right triangles so that they pair up as a Right and a Left. BUT when we assemble them, the pair will be split up onto the 2 separate sides of the ruana.

Modules labeled

This photo is the prototype ruana pinned out while blocking. I have added text to indicate which triangle is which, so you can see how they match.

Take the matching a step further by working the join bands to match. That’s a little easier: if working in the order indicated in the pattern, work the first band of Side 1 (in the blue box) and the second band of Side 2 (in the yellow box) to match.

One side, two side, Yellow side, blue side.

The yarn requirements listed in the pattern are those for getting it knitted. Period. If you want to match the stripes, I highly recommend picking up an extra skein.